Thursday, May 2, 2019

How President Trump Can Solve Our Illegal Immigration Crisis

The unprecedented numbers of illegal immigrants pouring across our southern border have led some to upgrade the situation there from “crisis” to “existential threat.”

The magnitude of the problem, they say, threatens to undermine America’s success as an immigration nation. And they want solutions.

Until now, America has been an undisputed immigration success story. More people immigrate here than to any other country in the world—and it’s not even close. Historically, we’ve also taken in more refugees than any other nation. Today, we are welcoming refugees from some 60 different countries.

Americans should be proud of this record—and we are. But we also want immigration done right.

Americans worry about the safety of would-be immigrants who are lured into risking dangerous passage to our country with the connivance of exploitative “coyotes.”

We fret over the unfairness of illegal immigrants “jumping the line,” while millions wait patiently to come to the U.S. legally.

We worry about the security threats—from crime to disease to terrorism—of unregulated border-crashing. And we are concerned about the rising economic burden of illegal

President Donald Trump’s challenge is to persuade the American people that he is the one who takes their concerns seriously. If he wants to be seen as the leader most committed to solving this mess, he has less than two years to show he has tried everything in his power to do so.

The administration has already done a good deal. The president swapped out the senior leadership team at Homeland Security. He declared a crisis on the border. He scrambled to find money to build the wall.